Merry and Bright
by NewHampshireGirl
Summary: Tony, Leah, and Jack celebrate their first Christmas in their new house... with some surprises along the way. Cute, holiday fluff, set after "Slowly Fading Away". Tony/OC, McGee/Delilah, team as family.
1. New Addition

**Warnings: **Fluffy, some implied sexual content

**A/N: **Whenever USA airs TIVA heavy episodes I make myself feel better by writing some Tony and Leah lol. This is set about ten months after "Slowly Fading Away", just a short little piece about Tony and Leah in their new house at Christmas. Please let me know what you think and if you think I should expand this, maybe one chapter a week until Christmas? Enjoy!

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><p><strong>Merry and Bright<strong>

It was snowy and cold outside. A picture perfect Christmas Eve. Tony DiNozzo sat in front of the fireplace watching his fifteen month old son play with his new toys that were gifts from his nanny. Jack was wide awake, probably thanks to the chocolate cake he had eaten. Tony didn't mind, it was the holiday after all and the little boy's mother wasn't griping that he should be in bed.

Tony sipped his egg nog basking in the glow of a fire and the twinkling white lights of their Christmas tree. Leah had done a fabulous job of decorating their new home with evergreen garland, white lights, and red bows... and carefully put them all out of the reach of their mischievous son. Their stockings were all hung on the old mantle and Leah had set up a nativity that had been her grandmother's in the entrance way. Her simple, beautiful, charming way of decorating was the way he'd always imagined what normal families' homes looked like at Christmas. It had taken him a long time to get that normal family but he was finally there and he was loving it.

Leah returned to the den with a plate of cookies and a glass of milk. She put them on a small table by the tree and then went to sit on the floor with her husband and son. "Santa's cookies are all set, Jack. Are you ready for bed?"

Jack shook his head and kept playing. Leah sighed and looked at Tony, incredulously. He chuckled. "Come on, it's Christmas Eve! Let him have a little fun. He's going to wear himself out soon anyways."

"Fine," Leah said, crawling towards the tree. She found a box and handed it to Tony. "I have a gift that I want you and Jack to open anyways."

"Huh? We already exchanged our one Christmas Eve gift," Tony replied, confused. He watched as she scooped Jack up and plopped him in his lap.

Jack looked annoyed that he had been taken away from his toys, but when Leah put the package in his grasp, he beamed. Immediately he began to tear at the red and silver paper, throwing it away in dramatic fashion. His face screwed up in frustration when he was done and it was nothing but a white box. Tony laughed and took over, taking the top off and gently pulling back the tissue paper. Jack pulled out the tee shirt that his mother had placed in there and threw it aside, confused that there wasn't any toys.

Tony reached for the tee shirt and held it up to show him. "Look buddy. Mommy got you a new tee shirt," he said, smiling at the toddler. He turned it around so he could read what it said. "It says... _I'm an Awesome Big Brother." _ Big Brother? Tony's eyes shot up to meet Leah's. She was grinning and nodded her head. He wrapped his arm tightly around Jack's waist and moved towards her, reaching out with his free arm and pulling her towards him. He kissed her and then kissed the top of Jack's head. "Do you hear that Jack? You're going to be a big brother!"_  
><em>

Leah laughed when the toddler didn't seem too interested and scooted out of his father's grasp and went back to playing with his toys. She sighed, happily and burrowed into Tony's embrace. "What do think Jack wants? A baby sister or a baby brother?"

"Well... I know what I want," Tony replied, rubbing her arms. "I want a little girl that looks just like you."

"I think I want a girl too," Leah said, softly, "just so I'm not outnumbered anymore."

He grinned and nuzzled her, delighting in the little giggle that emanated from her. Tony truly didn't care what they had, boy or girl, just that their baby was healthy and he was just happy to be expanding their family. He loved being a father and a husband. Jack and Leah and now their unborn baby... they were his entire world. "Have to admit that you're hiding your morning sickness really well this time."

She let out a little breath. "Haven't had that much, honestly. That's why when I took the test I was... surprised I was pregnant. I mean with Jack... I kind of knew when I went into the doctor what they were going to say."

"Any weird cravings? Because there's no store down the street this time."

"Not yet. But I'll be sure to let you know. And there are plenty of twenty-four stores in driving distance."

Tony kissed her cheek and reached out to rub her belly affectionately. The movement caught Jack's attention and he came over to snuggle with his parents, signaling that he was starting to wind down for the night. Jack placed his head on Leah's tummy. "Do you hear the baby in there?"

Jack blinked and listened, when he didn't hear anything he sat up and pat Leah's stomach. "Nigh nigh, bay-bee."

Leah chuckled and sat up herself, picking Jack up off the floor. "I think it's time that we all went night night so Santa can come." She started towards the stairs, but paused when she realized Tony wasn't coming with her. "Tony? Are you coming?"

"You go put him down," he said, waving her on, "I'm going to stay here, okay?"

"Okay," she said, a little bit curious, "Say good night to Daddy, Jack."

"Nigh nigh, Dada," Jack said, sleepily, grinning at his father.

"Night, buddy," Tony replied with an identical grin. He watched Leah carry their son upstairs, then crawled under the tree to find a gift for her. He found the small, wrapped box and pulled it out. He smiled at it when he heard her footsteps on the old stairs and slipped the box into his pocket.

Leah came back into the living room and snuggled against him, resting her head against his abdomen. "He went right to sleep. It was a busy night for him I guess."

Tony kissed the top of her head. "We still have to fill his stocking."

"I know. The bag is in the kitchen... can we stay here for a bit?"

"Yes, because I don't feel like moving either."

Leah turned her face up towards him and smiled. "Next year... we're going to have _two _stockings to fill."

Tony returned her smile. "I never even thought I'd have one. You've given me the best gift ever, Leah. My children... now I know it's cliché to say that I can never give you something as wonderful... but... I think this might help."

He pulled the little box out of his pocket and handed it to her with a kiss.

She giggled. "It's like we're in our own jewelry commercial."

"Ha ha... very funny. Please just open it."

"Yes, sir."

Leah tore the paper off to reveal the velvet box. "I wonder what's inside!" She teased him as she pulled the lid open. Her witty little grin disappeared when saw what was inside the box. "Tony... this... this had to cost a lot of money."

Tony reached over and took out the diamond and emerald pendent. He open the clasp and placed it around her neck, gently closing the clasp into place. The pendent fell gracefully across her collarbone. "You forget... I know people..."

"You didn't take this from the evidence locker did you?"

"No! Of course not!"

Leah ran her fingers over the necklace. "Ok, good because I really love it."

Tony gently pressed lips to hers. "Good... because it looks beautiful on you."

"I really need to fill Jack's stocking..." she whispered against his gentle embrace.

"It can wait. The stocking's not going anywhere," he whispered back, deepening the kiss.

She pulled back, suddenly. "If we do this, I'll forget all about the stocking. And that's not very fair to Jack."

He frowned at her. "But getting up now to fill the stocking isn't fair to me."

"Kids come first," Leah teased him getting to her feet, the light sparkling on the emerald around her neck.

"Yeah! When he's a wake!" Tony teased right back. He stood and grabbed her into his arms, making her laugh as he picked her up and tossed her onto the sofa.

Leah's eyes reflected so much love and desire that it drove him mad. "Santa might catch us."

Tony crawled onto the sofa, straddling her. "So? Santa's married. He understands completely."

In a flash his mouth was upon hers, kissing her passionately, hungrily as he enveloped her into his arms and pressed his body into hers. She melted against him, her fingers running up and down his back and they completely forgot about Jack's stocking... for the time being anyway.


	2. Pancakes

**Warnings: **None for this chapter, except fluff

**A/N: **Hello everyone, this is a week late, I apologize. But I've been so busy that I haven't had time to sit down and write. Still haven't decided if I'm going to expand this beyond this chapter, we'll see where my muse takes me I guess. Until then, enjoy!

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><p>"Hey," Tony mumbled from the sofa when he heard a plastic bag rustling, waking him. He opened his eyes to see Leah filling stockings. "Come back to the sofa, sweetheart, I'm cold."<p>

"I left you the blanket," Leah teased, glancing over her shoulder at him. She was wearing his sweater which was _much _too big on her. "I have to finish this."

Tony pouted and sat up. He found his boxers and jeans on the floor and pulled them on. Getting to his feet he went to stand behind his wife, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her neck. "But what if I wasn't finished with you on the sofa?"

Leah kept putting things into Jack's stocking, ignoring him. "Well seeing how you fell asleep after we were done the first time..."

"Aw, you know me, I like to nap to recharge my batteries."

"Yes, I know, you like to nap. But you got incredibly lucky that I was willing to let you use up your batteries earlier."

Tony chuckled and nuzzled her neck, making her giggle and she pushed him away playfully. He kept persisting while she finished putting Jack's presents in his stocking. Sometimes her hyper-focusing wasn't such a hinderance to her. When she was done he turned her to face him, kissing her. "What do you say to going upstairs to our bedroom and taking that sweater off?"

Leah wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him in for another kiss. "Only if you help me clean up the mess in the kitchen."

He frowned. "Can't that wait until morning?"

She started to pull away from him and shook her head. "No. It cannot," she said, firmly starting to pull away. He pulled her back, wrapping her into his arms as tightly as he possibly could without hurting her. "Tony. I'm serious! We have company coming over tomorrow!"

"I want to tell them."

"What?"

"I want to tell them we're having another baby."

Leah studied him for a moment. She was ten weeks pregnant, not quite out of the woods yet but everything was looking good that their baby was healthy. But, she had already thought about telling her parents when she called them on Christmas... and she had anticipated that Tony would want to tell his family, his team, so... "Okay. We can tell them."

Tony pressed his lips to hers in a loving, tender kiss. "Good. Because I know you were going to tell your parents anyways."

"What? How did you..."

"Federal investigator... I know my wife."

"Oh? You do, do you?"

"Yeah. I do."

She grinned at him, teasingly. "Okay, well, since you know me so well... what am I thinking right now?"

He tossed her a lopsided smile. "Well, that's easy. You're thinking about how incredibly lucky you are to have such a thoughtful, good-looking husband that lavishes you with jewels... very expensive ones might I add..."

Leah rolled her eyes at him and laughed. "And that he's incredibly cocky."

Tony pressed his lips to hers and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Part of my charm," he whispered to her, letting his lips linger over hers. "And it's my charm that you fell in love with."

"It was more than your charm I fell in love with," she told him, smiling sweetly at him.

"But it didn't hurt, did it?" he asked, grinning.

"Oh, of course it didn't hurt."

"Well that's good because I see that our son is becoming quite the charmer."

Leah chuckled. "He learned from the best."

Tony let his eyes wander over her before kissing her hungrily. "What do you say we go clean up that kitchen and head on up to our bedroom?"

"I say..." Leah replied, smiling at him, her eyes filled with love, "that sounds like a great idea."

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><p>Sunshine woke him up the following morning. It had stopped snowing, revealing the world blanketed in a fresh coat of powder that sparkled in the sun. Tony stretched and reached for his wife, only to come up empty. Blinking open his eyes he found Leah's side of the bed unoccupied, the blankets kicked back. She must have slipped out of bed to get Jack. Just because his parents had stayed up most of the night didn't mean he was going to let them sleep in the following morning.<p>

Rolling over and kicking the blankets off, Tony found his lounge pants and pulled them. He wasn't sure where his sweater had ended up... although he had a good guess that it had been left in the kitchen last night after they had finished cleaning up.

Tony stumbled down the stairs, rubbing his eyes and soaking in the wonderful smell of bacon and pancakes cooking in the kitchen. He smiled, sleepily when he entered. "Mmmm, bacon and pancakes... my favorite morning after breakfast... you know me so well, baby."

"Although there's some truth that I do know you well... don't call me, baby," Gibbs' voice surprised him.

"Boss?" Tony quipped, jumping back in surprise and realizing that he was only wearing his lounge pants, while his boss was standing in the kitchen cooking breakfast, looking at him with a sly smile. "I thought... I thought you weren't coming over until later."

Gibbs grinned at him and tossed him a shirt. "Your wife called yesterday and said you both had something to tell me. Put your shirt on."

Tony obliged, shyly, pulling the tee shirt on over his bare chest. "Yes, boss... s-sorry... didn't know you were coming over." He sat down at the island and watched as the team leader cooked breakfast. "Guess I should have known that Leah would want to tell you first."

"Everything alright?" Gibbs asked, concerned.

"What? Yeah, everything is fine, boss," Tony countered, smiling. "In fact everything couldn't be better."

"Is that so, DiNozzo?" the former marine replied, pouring his senior field agent a cup of coffee. He grinned, cheekily. "Should have guessed that seeing how you came down here half naked."

Tony sipped his coffee, grinned lopsidedly, and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, my gift went over really well last night... that's all."

Gibbs chuckled. Tony had debated for weeks what he was going to get his wife for Christmas. He had driven Tim and Ellie crazy to the point where Ellie had dragged the senior field agent out shopping one night. The next day Tony had proudly showed off the emerald pendent he had purchased. "Special lady deserves a special gift."

"Wish I could give her more than a pendent."

"She doesn't want more than that, Tony. She's happy with just you and Jack. That's what makes her special."

"Won't just be me and Jack much longer," Tony slipped, eyes widening when he saw a look of understanding coming over Gibbs face.

Leah came into the kitchen then, carrying Jack, proclaiming, "Look who's ready for his Christmas pancakes!" She bounced Jack on her hip, slightly, and then glanced up at the two men standing in the kitchen. She noticed that Gibbs was looking at her with a bit of awe. "What? Something I said?"

Gibbs shook his head and scooped the pancakes onto a serving plate. He placed the plate on the island, smiled, and went to kiss her cheek, softly. "Hope it's a girl this time."


	3. All Together

**Warnings: **Extreme fluff, no spoilers.

**A/N: **I'm working on a multi-chapter story for this series addressing Ziva returning. I'm just tired of seeing all the 'Ziva returns, Tiva happens' stories on this site lately. Leaves very little for this non-Tiva shipper to read. Anyways, hope you enjoy this last chapter to this little short story!

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><p>Ducky had insisted that he was going to cook them all a traditional Christmas dinner. Leah, Delilah and Breena were more than happy to help him prepare everything while the others dipped mulled cider and eggnog in the living room. Tony had lit another fire and Jack was eagerly moving back and forth from the kitchen to the den to see what was going on.<p>

Leah had fully intended to keep her pregnancy a secret until after dinner was in the oven and they were all sitting in the living room enjoying each others company and appetizers. But when Delilah opened a bottle of wine to celebrate her and Tim passing papers on their brand new house in Virginia... Leah knew that the cat was going to be out of the bag quickly, especially when Delilah poured her a glass and she turned it down.

"Are you feeling okay? You never turn down a glass of wine," Delilah said, surprised. "I mean I've only ever seen you turn wine down _once _and you were pregnant with Jack." Suddenly understanding dawned on the woman's face. "Wait a second... are you pregnant?"

"Pregnant? What... what gave you that impression?" Leah asked, nervously while she continued to peel potatoes and toss olives into her mouth to snack on. "Just because I've turned down a glass of wine doesn't mean I'm pregnant."

Ducky chuckled and pointed towards the jar of olives. "You're eating olives, my dear. When you were pregnant with young Jack they were on of your go to snacks, even though you despise them."

Leah suddenly stopped, with an olive halfway to her mouth. It was true that when she had been pregnant with Jack she had weird cravings, olives being one of them. And it was true... she didn't normally like them... well, except when she was pregnant apparently. "I didn't even realize I was eating them."

"Sure you didn't," Delilah remarked with a grin. She reached for the apple cider and poured Leah a glass of that instead. "Well, since you can't have wine, you can have cider and we can toast to both a new house and a new baby!"

"Mama! Baby in belly!" Jack exclaimed, suddenly appearing, and completely ruining any chance of Leah denying it. He grinned, pointed at Leah and clapped his hands. "Mama! Baby in belly!"

Leah looked at her son, a bit of a frown on her face. "Just like his father... can't keep a secret."

Breena picked the toddler up and kissed his cheek. "But he's so cute! How can you get mad at him?" She laughed when he smiled, reminding everyone in the room of his father. "He really is a mini-me of Tony."

Ducky chuckled. "Indeed, he is, my dear. So... when can we expect the new little DiNozzo to make their appearance?"

"July. That seems so far away."

"It will be here before you know it."

Delilah nodded in agreement. "Just think of how fast it went by when you were pregnant with Jack."

Leah recalled the moments of absolute panic that they didn't have anything ready before Jack had been born. She didn't feel any of that... yet. She wasn't sure if she would. She definitely felt more comfortable this time about the idea of having a baby, although, she didn't doubt that Tony was going to be his overprotective self, especially in these cold, icy months. "I just hope it doesn't go by _too _fast," she said with a smile.

"Until then," Breena said, raising her glass in toast, "Let's celebrate new homes and new babies, because we certainly have a lot to celebrate this Christmas."

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><p>It was quiet in the house. Jack was in bed, exhausted after a busy Christmas Day, and Leah had fallen asleep on the sofa in front of the fire after all their guests had left.<p>

Tony cleaned up the kitchen and organized the gifts underneath the tree while she slept, trying not to wake her. It had been just as exhausting for her hosting dinner and entertaining. With their second baby on the way, sleep was going to be hard to come by when the baby was born. He reasoned he'd let her get a head start on all the sleep she was going to lose once they had two small children.

"Anthony," she mumbled from the sofa, alerting him that she was awake. "Can you bring me some tea?"

He chuckled and promised it would be there in a few moments. After spending that summer in Cairo with a British professor, Leah had acquired a taste for tea, especially when she needed to relax. Entering the living room he found his wife snuggled under her favorite throw blanket, watching the fire. "Here you go, sweetheart. A nice, hot cup of tea just the way you like it."

She smiled at him underneath heavy lids. "Thanks," she whispered as he sat down on the sofa with her and lifted the blanket, sliding underneath with her.

Tony reached out and pushed her hair behind her ear before planting a soft kiss on her temple. "You should be sleeping."

"I know... but I started thinking about everything we need to do before the baby comes and... I panicked a little."

"We have nine months. Everything will get done."

Leah sighed and sipped her tea, taking comfort in his warmth and solid presence next to her. She knew how close they had come to not having this and she was going to cherish every second of the quiet time they got that night. "I'm glad everyone was here for Christmas."

Tony continued to run his fingers through her hair. "It was particularly nice to see the look of shock on Tim's face when you announced you were pregnant again."

"Yes, that's because he still hasn't quite gotten used to you being a father yet."

"Yeah, that's true."

She put her tea cup down onto the coffee table, leaned into his chest and kissed his cheek. "Tony."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Yeah?"

"Merry Christmas."

Tony smiled and whispered, "Merry Christmas, sweetheart." He hugged her and kissed the top of her head. It had been one of his happiest holidays to date and it was thanks to this woman and the family they had created together. And he was looking forward to the many more holidays that they spent together.


End file.
